complaints are hidden desire

As the school year came to a close, I found myself feeling a bit depleted,  looking toward the summer with a blah feeling. I realized that I went into the last couple of summers with a fall wedding and other events to plan — and this year I missed the  fun anticipation of those.  I expressed this sense of blah to my life coach. I said, “This summer does not feel exciting at all to me.” 

My wise coach, JoAnne, looked me in the eye and said “Well, you know that complaints are a good fuel for desire. What do you want to do this summer? ?” The question stopped me. I had not thought of it that way.  After a moment I said, “I want more time outside, more quiet, time to read, more romantic evenings with Dave, more adventures with the kids, some space to imagine our next round of dreams and goals”. 

“You are clear," she said, "What are you going to do now, to make it happen?”

These are  the  questions we can ask ourselves: How can we stay expansive? How can we recognize the desire behind our complaint? And, how do we create what we want for ourselves? 

So I turn it to you: What are your complaints this summer— what do you *really* want?